The Talon of Shadow
by ShadeLock93
Summary: In a time of war for the galaxy, two smugglers do their best to make their living in a universe where almost no one can be trusted. Jack and Leon are going to find that it's hard not to choose a side in this battle. Full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

**It is a time of war for the galaxy. **

**The Jedi Order led by their Council faces the Empire led by the Sith Order. No one can be trusted. **

**Two simple smugglers try to make a living by breaking through blockades with their ship, the Talon of Shadows. But Jack and Leon are going to find that it's hard not to choose a side in the battle of good and evil.**

* * *

><p>"Fucking hurry up you moron!" Jack yells over the sounds of gunfire, the door behind him being blasted continuously to no avail.<p>

Leon wildly dashed around the room, from console to console, ripping them apart with his tools and then taking parts out of them, piling the parts on the floor next to a smoking teleporter. It was old fashioned, probably a very early model, it was a circular shape, with a dome on the top, and blinking lights around the edges. Or the lights were supposed to be blinking, but smoke coming from an open hatch told otherwise. Two handles stuck out from the sides.

"I'm moving as fast as I can!" Leon yelled back, talking around his cigarette. He finally removed a bunch of cabling and wires from a panel in the wall, and knelt down next to his tech pile. He grabbed a few things, examined them, and either threw them across the room or attached a wire to it. A small tubular item bleeped as he picked it up, and he patiently put it down on the floor and crushed it under his boot. He then proceeded to do many complicated things with wires and mechanical pieces, until there was a junky heap of wires and parts connected by a cable to the teleporter. He took his backpack off and rummaged through it for a moment, as Jack grew frustrated.

"_**This is your autopilot speaking. I detect an 85% chance that your current course will lead to harm, and almost certain death. Correcting course in five minutes."**_

Suddenly, Jack wondered where the ship was headed. They were in the bridge, and everyone that had been in it a few minutes ago were slumped outside the door, dead. He strode over to the main desk, thankfully unharmed by Leon, and pressed a button. Slowly, the metal screenshields moved outward, and Jack's eyes grew wider.

"Uhh… Leon? Hurry up. Please."

Leon looked up from where he was sitting, worried by this sudden change in his friend. It wasn't like Jack to get all quiet-voiced. Leon stood up and walked over, but he stopped and stared.

Or tried to. He had to lower his starglasses before he could actually stare.

Because that's what the ship was pointing towards. A star.

"_**This is your autopilot speaking. I detect a 92% chance that your current course will lead to almost certain death. Correcting course in four minutes."**_

"I'll… just get back to that teleporter…" Leon said, then dashed back after another moment. He knelt down, and attached the last cable to it, then frowned, took the cigarette from his mouth and twiddled with something in the device. Then, satisfied, he took the heavy cable over towards the main desk, and, pushing Jack out of the way, opened a hatch in it and plugged the cable in.

Instant darkness. Well, except for the star and the now flashing lights in the teleporter. The door stopped being hit by anything for a moment, then the blasting resumed.

"You just turned the autopilot off! And all the shields with it! What the hell were you thinking!"

"This stupid teleporter is extremely old, so it needs a _lot_ of power." Leon explained, wiping sweat from his brow. Then he held up his hand and looked at the sweat. "Aren't the bloody bridges on these things heat-proof?"

Jack looked at his own hands, and noticed that he too was sweating. He could feel it becoming uncomfortably warm , and sweat slid down his back. Then he looked back up at Leon. "Yeah, except when all the power of a ship suddenly gets rerouted into a faulty teleporter."

"That… may… be a problem. FUCK." Leon tinkered with the manual controls underneath the main console, and pulled out the cable. The whole ship groaned for a moment, and a shudder ran through it as the power ran through it once more. "I'll have to try a different way if we don't want solar interference with the bloody thing. I'll try running the power through different nodes, which should fix it…"

Jack stood back for a moment as Leon pulled things from his bag, his hands engaging hyperspeed as they disassembled parts and reassembled them into two gadgets, and his mutters faded. "Ok, let's try this."

"_**This is your autopilot speaking. I detect a 100% chance of your current course leading to certain death. Goodbye."**_

Leon reached over to the console next to the main, and pulled one end of a cable from underneath it. He then hooked the second cable into one node, and the first one to the other. He attached the nodes together with a few wires, hoping it would be enough, and plugged the first one back into the main console.

The power flickered, and with a huge whooshing noise, dimmed significantly, but didn't shut off.

"_**This is yourrrrrrrr autop-p-p-p-p-pilot speakinginginging. SSSSSystems are on thirrrrrrty three-ee-ee-ee percent cap-cap-capacity."**_

"Okay, that _should_ be good enough for keeping out solar interference. We'll just have to try."

They both jumped at the teleporter and grabbed a handle, as Leon pushed the button.

_WwwhhhhiiiirrRRRRR WWHHHIIIIRRRRR fizz._

"FUCK! What's wrong now?" Jack asked, worry rising in his voice. Leon opened the hatch on the side again.

"Ah, so that's where you were," Leon said, pulling out his cigarette, and flicking it away. "I don't think I'll be smoking anytime soon."

_Wwwwhhhhiiiiiirrrr ZZZZZZAAAAAAAZZZZZZP._

They disappeared, leaving both the room… and the teleporter, behind.

The ship's power flickered back on, and an explosion roared up front.

The Star Destroyer was then, ironically enough, destroyed by a star.


	2. Chapter 2

With a thud, Leon and Jack fell onto a metal floor with a clang and a curse. Jack shakily turned to look at Leon. "Well that was fun."

Leon grinned but never got a chance to reply as someone coughed. They looked up to see a blue Twi'lek staring at them, shock quickly turning into anger. Leon looked back to Jack.

"Ready for more fun?"

"WHAT THE FUCK YOU WERE GUYS THINKING!" The Twi'lek hadn't stopped for what seemed to have been hours already.

"Just a FUCKING THREE _HOUR_ milk run you said! 'We'll be fine', you said. 'We won't take too long', you said. I HAVE BEEN WAITING HERE FOR 3 _FUCKING_ WEEKS WORRIED AND SCARED SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED!"

As she paused to catch her breath, Jack said "Oh Alana, I knew you loved me but I didn't think you cared that much."

As Alana blushed Jack turned to Leon and said "3 weeks? Man, that teleporter _really_ needs to be worked on."

Leon and Jack paled as Alana went still and in a quiet voice asked "You used one of Leon's inventions?"

Leon smiled "Yes and it worked!" He stopped and frowned "Except we were gone for three weeks. There may have been a bit of solar interference from that star after all. And it was a bisolar system too… so there would've been interference from the other one… I didn't think of that."

Alana was about to lose it and it would have been bad if it wasn't for the fact that things had started to float in the cockpit, Leon and Jack included. They shouted out in surprise as they suddenly slammed to the ground hard.

"Not again" Jack managed to groan out.

Jack looked up at Alana and watched as her face grew upset. With a sob she ran out of the cockpit, her footsteps trailing away. Everything else in the room dropped, and the force holding Leon and Jack faded. A door slamming elsewhere in the ship signified she had reached her room.

"Uhh… also, the teleporter can't be worked on… it may have been left behind on the ship, so we were lucky to get off without it. Although I've never heard of a personal teleporter teleporting the user but not coming along…"

"Dude, we can talk about the teleporter later, but did you not at all notice her reaction?"

"It wasn't hard to. I just don't particularly care. Seriously. I find it hard to worry about other people."

Jack sighed. They'd gone over that before, but it always stretched Jack's mind to acknowledge that Leon actually didn't care.

"Anyway, and here's my best effort to care about this; you should go talk to her. Or something. I'm not exactly the person for it, mainly because of my uncaring-ness, but also because my inventions haven't exactly made her life easy."

"They haven't made my life easy either, come to think of it."

"Yeah, but that's ok, you don't mind as much. Remember that time when she was chasing me around some planet? I can't remember which planet, never good with names, but that was because I'd accidentally blown a few things of hers up. We're not exactly buds. So off you go, talk to her. Sit there any longer and she'll decide _you_ hate her as well. Although you've always had a way with her."

"I suppose so… You can find out where the ship is at the moment, and also, direct the course back to Tatooine. We have some money to collect."

Leon smiled, and jumped up from the floor. "Sir, yes sir! Uh… seriously. GO."

Jack got up from the floor and followed the corridor that Alana had taken.

Leon chuckled. "Eh, people rushing around after love and stuff. I'll never understand. Now, off to Tatooine!"

He looked around for a moment to get his bearings, before walking in the opposite direction Jack and Alana had taken.

Leon Okera was the son of a famous spacecraft building lineage, extending all the way back to Old Earth, and had an older brother who also designed them. After a falling out with his parents, he had decided to make a more exciting living on the other side of the law, rather than sit around fixing things in a mechanic shop all day.

Standing straight he might reach 5'10", but he slouched, meaning he looked shorter than he was. His dull, greasy brown hair was almost shoulder length and shaggy, and only ever got combed out of his eyes if he was interested in something.

His average clothes were old and patchy, with occasional grease or oil stains on them, or perhaps burnt patches. His skin was usually pale from lack of sunlight, and when outside, he usually wore special custom-designed goggles to adjust his eyes, which were currently sitting up on his head.

Leon sat at the controls and typed a few things in, before bringing up the security cameras. He saw Alana sobbing on her bed while Jack stood in the doorway awkwardly. Leon turned the screens off, before leaning down under the desk for a moment, and examining something. He smiled then dropped off the chair onto the floor, and opening up the main control panel. Pulling a few tools from his backpack, he set to work with relish.

**[LINE]**

"Alana? Are you there? Can I come in?" Jack asked, continuously knocking on the door. "I want to speak to you."

"Go away Jack! Leave me alone!" That was all Alana had seemed to be able to sob out.

Jakes expression fell to sadness. "Alana I'm not leaving until you open this door. Please open up or I'll have to knock the door down."

There was no answer and Jack was just about to use the override code to enter when Alana opened the door. Her brown eyes were red from crying and tears trailed down her smooth face. Her usual outfit of pants and a singlet was all over the place.

Jack wasn't surprised to see that she had packed away her room again.

"Leaving again?" He asked

Alana sighed "Jack, I'm too dangerous to be here. I have to leave to protect everyone."

"This is the fifth time we've had this conversation Alana!" Jack snapped. "Why won't you just admit that you want to stay here?"

"Because I can't let anyone else by hurt because of me!"

"Leon and I are big boys. We can take care of ourselves."

"All the more reason for me to leave Jack!" Alana was turning red from anger.

"Alana, you walk out the door and the Sith and Jedi are going to chew you up!"

"You're such an idiot!" She screamed

"Only for you darling." He smirked

"Don't call me that! I'm _not_ going to be yours!"

"I know. It's what I'm thankful for each day!" Jack stopped, sighed and changed tactics. "Look I'm sorry Alana, I shouldn't have said that. We only want to help."

He sighed again. "Please just stay."

She looked at his face, studied his blue eyes, his brown hair, that scar that ran down his right cheek down to his tidy beard. She let out a shaky breath, seeming to calm down a little, and nodded. He smiled at her before dropping his eyes and muttering at the state of his clothes.

"I'm going to change out of these clothes. I'll, ah, see you later." He turned and walked out of the room.

**[LINE]**

Jack walked into the command room of the ship, and wasn't worrying. He was thinking about the talk with Alana, and now that she was calm, hoped she'd be fine. He still didn't worry when he saw that the coordinates had been set to Tatooine's moon instead of Tatooine, although he frowned when the coordinates jumped to a different moon in a whole different solar system, then back again.

He did, however, start worrying when he saw Leon's legs lying on the floor next to the main controls, and the rest of him lying inside the control desk, while he was fiddling with some wires in there.

"Uhh… Leon, not to interrupt you or anything, but the coordinates keep jumping around" Jack said as he watched the coordinates jump to Old Earth, then Frivil, a moon of New Earth. "Is that anything to do with what you're doing?"

"Er, yeah, I thought that might happen. However, it doesn't affect the ship's course because I've just installed a new AI interface, and told it to set Tatooine as the destination. I'll fix that in a mo."

"What was wrong with the last AI you installed?"

Jack could've sworn Leon was blushing as he answered. "Well, er… I made it. I'm not exactly an AI expert. I know my way around the coding, well enough for a basic AI anyway, but it wasn't very good, so I scrapped it. At the moment, I'm trying to disable a tracking device remotely that was stuck on our ship a few years ago, and only just started transmitting after I installed the new AI. I can't disable it manually because it's attached to a high-volt teleporter, designed to teleport the ship to wherever the signal is being sent, as well as fry any circuitry or life on board if someone comes within half a metre of it."

Leon crawled out from the wires and circuit boards that held the ship's controls, and replaced the panel hiding them. He motioned towards the coordinate panel, smiling. "That is now being fed the coordinates of the other ship, as I just reversed the signal, as well as disabled the electricity current that was about to kill us all and steal the ship."

He threw his hands up in the air. "Who da man?"

Alana, walking past the room, commented "Well, obviously not you, since I'm still not convinced you have what you say you have."

Leon crossed his arms and glared at the Twi'lek as she disappeared from view behind a wall. "That's mean. I just saved our lives. Well… I suppose it was my trying to disable it that endangered us in the first place, but meh. That doesn't exactly need to go public."

Jack stared at Leon. "You triggered the high-voltage teleporter?"

"Well… I might have possibly _almost_ accidentally triggered it, hypothetically speaking."

Jack slapped his hand to his forehead, and groaned. "Argh… you can be extremely… I can't even think of words to describe you right now. Where are we at the moment?"

"_Confirm hyperspace entry?"_

"Confirmed, AP. Take us to Tatooine" Leon answered, as he sat down in the captain's chair and hit a few buttons.

"Hey, what? We're entering hyperspace! Argh…" Jack pulled the mic towards him. **"Alana, strap yourself down. The fool next to me is about to launch us into hyperspace."**

They heard a faint "WHAT!" from somewhere in the ship, as Jack put the mic back.

"Well, hope she's strapped down" commented Leon. "First time I've tried the new hyperdrive, although it's actually three weeks old now."

"Wait, wha-!"

_VVVVVVOOOOOOOSSSSSHH._

A couple of minutes later – _"Successful hyperspace exit. Have a nice day."_

"Well, that's lovely, isn't it? It even told us to have a nice day."

"**We're here, Alana, you're good now" **Jack said over the mic, a little shakily. It wasn't exactly the smoothest hyperspace ride he'd been on.

Cursing was heard from somewhere else on the ship.

**[LINE]**

As the 3 of them walked out of the ship Jake turned around a moment to look at the _Talon Of Shadow_. She was a GAT-12 Skipray Blastboat, painted in almost entirely in black with a few traces of blue splashed on her. The blue splashes had been painted in such a way to look like hyperspace streaks. It was also the only way spot the ship in deep space. Otherwise she was mostly invisible to the eye. A program on board the ship hid the engine signature, making her completely invisible to enemy ships. It was perfect for smuggling missions. She had a proton torpedo launcher, 3 medium ion cannons and a dual laser turret. Leon had modified a few things on the ship, obviously, to make it work a little smoother. She wasn't the biggest or deadliest ship out there. But she was a deadly son of a bitch.

Jack grimaced; he really had to stop using those Old Earth curses. Spinning around again, he jogged to catch up with Alana and Leon, time to get their pay. The saber crystals in the briefcase he held would easily pay for a few months of comfort, along with the usual bribery needed to live as a smuggler.

Leon ended up walking just behind Jack, who strode along next to Alana towards the famous Mos Eisley Cantina, which their current contractor apparently was. Leon noticed a scuffed, dusty hover-vehicle being taken away by Jawa's, and chuckled. He doubted they'd bought it. Anything mechanical and not bolted down was stolen on this planet.

As they entered, the scanners checked for robots, before the electrical door opened. On entering the main cantina, they both instantly noticed a friend of theirs, a fellow smuggler by the name of Han Solo. He seemed busy talking with an old man and some boy, so they looked around the room for their contractor.

"Excuse me, sirs and miss? I believe you're looking for me?"

Jack turned to his right, and noticed a man hidden in the shadows near the door. "Ah, you must be the contractor…?"

"That would indeed be I. Follow me to a more private... exchanging area."

The man stepped out of the shadows and walked in a brisk manner towards a door on the far side of the room.

The man was a Rodian, once he stepped into the dim light. He was wrapped up in a grey cloak, and short even for his species. He stepped quickly through the door, and after all three were through, he pressed a button on the wall next to the door, and it slid shut.

"Now, I have the agreed amount of credits with me. 63,000 for 21 crystals, I believe it was."

"Correct. We have all of them right here, top grade. We even had to crash a Star Destroyer into a star escaping with them, so you're lucky we're not charging more."

The Rodian nodded his head slightly. "The Jedi will be most pleased. Especially if it means 21 less for the Sith. Your credits are well-earned, then."

He took a credit-case out of an inside pocket, and opened it up for them to see, placing it on a convenient table. Leon pulled out a scanner and checked the contents, and the Rodian pulled out a second one, which Leon also scanned.

"Yeah, that's all of them. Thank you then. Er, Jack? The crystals?"

Jack put the briefcase on the table, opening it up for the Rodian, who lent over it, examining the saber crystals with an expert eye. None were flawed, and although a few were on the smaller side, there were a few larger ones to make up for it.

"There were a few extra then this, but we've decided to hold on to them, as we're anticipating another supplier contacting us within the next few days."

The Rodian breathed in deeply, closing the case. He looked about for a moment, before his eyes locked on Alana. "Something seems to… hmm. Until just a moment ago, my senses were being scrambled by the raw saber crystals. In their natural state, they have that effect… But now they're closer, there is something… more, here."

Alana and Jack exchanged a look, and Alana asked "What kind of something more?"

"Aha! When you spoke, I felt it a little more strongly. You… you have the Force inside you! Untamed, raw, like the crystals. That is why my senses where confused. You have not been trained by either Jedi nor Sith, it seems. Come! Come with me! The Jedi have need of all people untrained, to make sure that no harms comes to those around them."

Alana seemed to waver for a moment, sensing something… _pushing_, that seemed like it was the right word, _pushing_ at her mind. "You… you're not an actual supplier, are you?"

The Rodian seemed surprised for a moment, before seeming to become angry. "Of course not! Suppliers… Saber crystals and the like are too precious to go through the hands of others than the Jedi themselves! Smugglers like yourselves… it reviles me to even have to rely on you, but unfortunately some things must be done. I originally planned to knock you out and take the crystals and my credits back, but if she comes with me, I will leave you in peace. I will not settle for less."

Jack looked at Leon. "What do you have to say about this, Leon?"

Alana looked absolutely horrified at the thought of Leon having a say in her fate, but before she could start arguing, Leon had thrown the scanner at the Rodian, who simply snatched it out of the air.

"And that was supposed to do… what, exac- aarRRRRGGGHHH!" the Jedi fell to the floor, convulsing in pain, the scanner he still held sending spikes of electricity all through his body.

"That solves that problem. Er… you didn't kill him, did you?"

Leon looked at Jack with a mock offended air. "Why would you even suggest such a thing? I set it to stun the moment he started insulting us. You just gave me the excuse to throw it."

Alana spoke up "Well, we have the credits, and the crystals if we want them back."

"Nah, he can have the crystals. The Jedi do need some help, at least. Besides, we do have another briefcase with them back onboard."

Leon leaned over and pressed a button on the side of the scanner gingerly, pulling his finger back as a slight shock passed through it. He then pulled it from the Jedi's hand, and replaced it on his belt, before grabbing the credit-cases off the table.

The three smugglers grinned at each other. Jack spoke up first. "That is a kriffload of credits!"

"No shit." Leon replied.

"Hey, Han's still here," Alana observed as they opened the door and left the room, along with the still twitching Jedi. "Maybe we could go over and say hello."

"Uh, except that's Greedo talking to Han"

Alana squinted across the dimly lit cantina. "Yeah that's the slime."

Leon frowned "What happened to that old guy talking to Han?"

Jack snarled and his hand curled over one of his blasters "Stay here. I'm going to kill Greedo"

As Jack pulled out his pistols and stalked towards the table where Greedo was sitting with Han, he was stopped by Han pulling out a blaster and shooting Greedo.

"Well. Talk about ruining a Rodian's day. Huh. That's two Rodians who haven't had things go their way today" Leon commented.

Jack holstered his pistols, crossed his arms and glared at Han "I was just about to kill him you know."

Han smirked "Should've been faster." His face faded into seriousness and he continued. "Be careful kid and watch Alana. The Jedi or the Sith won't stop to get her."

Jack nodded. "Thanks for the tip Han. Try not to get encased in carbonite."

"They'd have to catch me first" Han shot back with a chuckle as he left the cantina.

Jack turned back to Alana and Leon.

"So what now?" he asked.

"Drinks?" Leon suggested.

"I'm up for it." Alana agreed. She may not have liked Leon but they agreed on that at least.

"Alright," Jake said, "What could go wrong?"

As Leon and Alana stared at him like he had shot their pet Gizka in front of them he slapped his forehead and groaned.

"That was some really bad foreshadowing I just did wasn't it?"

**[LINE]**

**Hey, it's Lock here.**

_**And I'm Shade.**_

**I'm one of the two people writing this story. **

_**I'm obviously the other.**_

**We've noticed that there are people visiting this story, but not reviewing.**

**This isn't good :(**

_**Not good at all.**_

**I'm asking for reviews please. We really do need feedback, it helps majorly. If you don't have an account, you can still leave reviews, you know.**

_**You can be as anonymous as you like!**_

**Well, thanks for reading, people. We hope for reviews, and constructive criticism is fine. Outright hate will be ignored.**

_**Or fed to a starving Rancor!**_

**-Lock Jay-**

_**-Shadepen-**_


End file.
